


Nothing But Sand

by travels_in_time



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Time Travel, Timey-Wimey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-10
Updated: 2010-10-10
Packaged: 2017-10-12 14:24:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/125794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/travels_in_time/pseuds/travels_in_time
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unexpected event pulls Rose and Jack away from the Doctor, throwing them into separate timestreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing But Sand

_The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone._

\--George Eliot

 

The Doctor was looking around, frowning. "There's something about this place..."

"Yeah, best fried pikanes in the 47th century, you said," Jack replied.

"You never said exactly what a pikane was, though," Rose pointed out. She was trailing a bit behind them, trying to look at everything at once.

"Probably best if you don't ask," Jack warned. "They're not poisonous and they taste great, that's all you need to know." He turned around and grinned at her.

She smiled back, but absently; she was still taking in all the sights. They were in one of the major population centers on Ralavon 7, in the local equivalent of a shopping center. Four stories tall and stretching over several hundred acres, there were stores which sold everything Rose had ever heard of and many things she hadn't. Some of the clothing seemed to be designed for people with more arms and legs than she was used to.

Ralavon 7 was also home to one of the busier spaceports in the area, so there were all sorts of aliens who'd stopped off to souvenir-shop during a layover. She watched, fascinated, as what looked like a green octopus pushed a carriage along containing five tiny octopi, three of whom seemed to be arm-wrestling. She wondered how they'd ever get untangled.

"No, there's something else I should be remembering about this place," the Doctor insisted. "Something important."

Jack rolled his eyes. "There's something unexpected. Don't tell me, there's about to be a revolution and we're wearing the wrong shade of blue, so we'll get thrown in prison. Or shape-shifting terrorists will attack looking exactly like us, and we'll get thrown in prison. Or--"

"There's a disturbing pattern to your scenarios, Captain."

"There's a disturbing pattern to what tends to happen when you land us somewhere."

Rose listened to the familiar bickering with only half an ear. She was looking at the various people passing by, noticing something about them all, regardless of species.

The Doctor had stopped listening to Jack and was muttering to himself again. "Something to do with Ace. That can't be right, though, I never brought Ace here--"

"Doctor," Rose said hesitantly.

He looked back at her and ran directly into a short round man who'd stepped in front of him. "Sir, you and your friends--"

"What?" he said impatiently. "Rose, what is it?"

"Sir," the man said insistently. "It's a matter of safety. The rules are very clear, they're posted at all the entrances--"

The Doctor ignored him for the moment. Whatever the little man was nattering about, the Doctor didn't feel inclined to explain that they hadn't come in through the regular entrances.

Jack had dropped back to listen to Rose, who was gesturing at the people around them. "All of them, they're all wearing the same sort of jewelry. The necklaces--"

"The stabilizers," the man, who seemed to be some sort of official, persisted. He held one out to the Doctor, who took it automatically. "They're required. All of you must have--"

"Stabilizers," he said, realizing. "That's what it is!" His growing uneasiness crystallized abruptly as he sensed the wave front building. He spun around to his companions, holding out the stabilizer. "Rose, Jack, hang onto this quick, it's a--"

They disappeared even as he moved, and he finished numbly, "--time storm."

His hand clenched convulsively over the necklace, and the little official stepped back nervously. "The management accepts no responsibility for the displacement of anyone not wearing an approved stabilizer!" he recited quickly, as if in self-defense.

"I don't suppose you have any way of tracking them," the Doctor managed through gritted teeth.

The official took a few more steps back. "Well, no, sir. The storms are regrettably common in this area, but the stabilizers keep everyone anchored. There's no need--if they had noted the security protocols upon entering--"

"I should have remembered," the Doctor muttered. "It's my fault." He thrust the stabilizer back at the little man. "Here. Next time don't stop to yap, just throw it over their head and explain later."

"Sir!" The official tried to hand it back to him. "You'll need this…" But he was already off at a dead run.

****************************

The Doctor skidded to a halt at the TARDIS, fumbling with the key and throwing open the doors. The control room was empty. He sighed, stepping through and shutting the doors behind himself. It had been a long shot, but he'd nevertheless hoped that they'd somehow been transported back to the TARDIS; that maybe the wave that had caught them had been small enough to only displace them a short time.

Of course, there was no guarantee that they'd even been displaced together. Time storms were notoriously unstable; most likely the wave had separated them, thrown them along the timestreams unpredictably. If he was lucky, it would be their pasts, and he'd have a better chance at tracing them. If they'd been swept into their futures, he'd have no idea where to even begin. He refused to think about the massive storm that had kept Ace in her own timeline, relatively speaking, but shifted her off to a distant planet. That hadn't been a normal storm, anyway, that had been a set-up, there was no reason to suspect anything like that here...

He set the TARDIS to dematerialize and began working out a scan pattern, trying not to think about how badly they might be messing up their timelines if they were in their own pasts. He didn't think Jack would have too many problems. The ex-Time Agent had had enough training and enough experience to know what to do if he found himself unexpectedly time-shifted. It was Rose that the Doctor was worried about. She'd seen first-hand what the consequences of meddling with time could be, and he thought she'd be more careful now, but she wasn't experienced enough to realize all the types of things that would be likely to cause problems. If she were far enough back and someone caught sight of her cell phone, for instance...

Her phone! The Doctor smacked himself in the forehead and picked up the TARDIS phone, frantically dialing her number.

****************************************

Jack was reaching for the necklace when the shock wave hit him. He was blinded for a moment, struggling to breathe, feeling pulled in several different directions at once. When he finally managed to open his eyes, he was...elsewhere. Lying on something hard, feeling like he'd been run through a blender and then had the bits pounded with a sledgehammer.

He recognized the symptoms of time displacement without adequate shielding, but knowing what the problem was didn't do anything to alleviate it. He could hear and smell water nearby, although from his limited perspective he couldn't see it. It was twilight, and perhaps fortunately for him there didn't appear to be anyone around. He closed his eyes again, waiting for some semblance of normality to reassert itself.

****************************

Ianto came back along the boardwalk carrying the Chinese food that his supervisor hadn't asked for but would cheerfully devour. He'd tell Ianto that he was a grown man and could look out for himself, but Ianto had yet to see him eat anything that wasn't take-out or somebody else's lunch stolen out of the communal refrigerator.

The sun was setting, and Ianto stopped for a moment to watch the birds swooping over the water before turning towards the rather disreputable-looking travel agency. He paused as he came closer, seeing a prone form sprawled across the pavement. He hadn't been there when Ianto had left. Some drunk, no doubt, who'd chosen an out-of-the-way spot to collapse.

Then the man groaned and rolled over, and Ianto saw his face.

*************************************

Rose came back to consciousness slowly, only gradually becoming aware of the flashes and bangs that punctuated the darkness that she found herself in. She sat up carefully, hurting all over, vaguely nauseated, trying to remember what had happened.

Then the light flashed close enough to illuminate her surroundings, and the ground shook as her eyes widened.

It couldn't be. But it looked like...

London. She was in the bloody Blitz again.

Ignoring the pain, she scrambled to her feet, fumbling for her phone, punching the speed-dial button for the TARDIS. The whistling noises were much louder suddenly and she was thrown to the ground, dropping the phone, as a bomb landed somewhere entirely too close.

Someone was yanking her hand, pulling her to her feet once more. She tried to break free, looking frantically over her shoulder for the phone, but he was insistent. "Run!"

"I have to get--"

"I said run!" He was following his own advice, and he wasn't letting go, dragging Rose along behind him. Well, this she was used to, at any rate. She managed to keep up until he turned sharply around a corner and pulled her down to ground level. "Get--"

A massive explosion drowned out whatever he'd been going to say, and Rose instinctively ducked her head into his coat and hid her eyes. When the noise had died away somewhat, she poked her head back around the corner. The building she'd landed in front of was nothing but a pile of rubble.

"So much for my phone," she muttered.

"Your phone might be history, but the rest of you is intact. Feel free to express your gratitude in any manner you choose; I've got a list if you're short of ideas."

"Oh, yeah, go ahead and make jokes. How are we gonna let the Doctor know where we are without my phone?" She rocked back on her heels and took another look at him. He was absolutely still, as if processing what she'd said, and she took in the uniform, the wool greatcoat, the hat for the first time. "Crap. You're not my Jack, are you?"

***************************************

The Doctor waited tensely. The phone continued to ring, and he waited far beyond any reasonable amount of time before he finally acknowledged that Rose wasn't going to answer.

His shoulders slumped, and he braced himself on the console as the TARDIS continued scanning time and space for his wayward companions.

***************************************

"Jack!" Ianto said sharply, quickening his pace and kneeling down beside him. "What happened? Are you all right?"

The man opened his eyes and blinked dazedly at him, and Ianto took a closer look. He didn't see any visible injuries, that was good. But that wasn't what Jack had been wearing when he left, and the hairstyle was distinctly different. Yet it was...it had to be..."Jack?"

"Yeah," the man muttered. He extended a hand, and Ianto automatically gripped it and pulled the man to a sitting position. He rubbed his eyes. "I...where are we?" He looked up at Ianto, who noted that he was having trouble focusing. "And who are you?"

Ianto mentally listed the possibilities. Either Jack had suffered a concussion somehow--had there been an attack of some kind?--or this wasn't Jack. An alien shape-shifter manifesting itself as Jack, possibly. He suppressed a sigh. Just another normal day at Torchwood. Either way, it would be better to get whoever it was into the Hub before anyone noticed. He felt for his gun, concealed beneath his suit jacket, and stood up. "Come on, let's get you inside."

The man let Ianto help him to his feet and lead him inside the office, where he pulled away and leaned against the desk, swaying slightly. "No, wait a minute. Please."

Ianto pushed a chair closer to him, and he sank into it bonelessly. "Thanks." He took a deep breath and looked directly at Ianto. "You know me."

"Well...yes."

"You're not surprised to see me. I belong here."

"Yes." But Ianto was starting to have doubts about that.

"Okay." The man--it was Jack, it had to be Jack--rubbed his eyes again. "So there's a good chance I'll run into myself, and then there'll be real trouble."

He was making even less sense than Jack usually did. Ianto's earpiece beeped suddenly, and he pressed it to answer before he thought. "Ianto."

He flinched at the voice in his ear. "Thought you were supposed to be home by now."

If Jack was talking to him on the phone, then who was sitting in front of him? He struggled to keep his voice even. "Yes, sir. I came back."

"I noticed that." There was amusement in Jack's voice. "The alerts showed that the front door had opened, but I got a bit worried when you didn't come down."

"I brought Chinese." Ianto hesitated a moment. The other Jack was watching him intently, silently.

"Everything all right?"

"Yes, sir. Uh...sir? We have--a visitor."

Jack's voice sharpened. "Trouble? Just answer yes or no."

"No. It's..." the other Jack was shaking his head violently at him. "No trouble. He--I think you'd know him. He says he shouldn't run into you."

"What the hell--" Jack was silent then, for so long that Ianto almost thought the connection had been broken. "It's me, isn't it." His voice was suddenly much softer.

"Looks like it."

"All right." Jack took a deep breath. "It's okay, you can trust him. Let him in, give him access to the rift manipulator, whatever he wants. He's right, we shouldn't see each other. I'll stay underground until...." He hesitated.

"I'll stay with him," Ianto promised. "I'll let you know when he's gone."

"Thank you," Jack said quietly. "Ianto, this is the future in his timeline. You can tell him that, but nothing else. Nothing that you know, or that you've guessed, about me, or anything that's happened. That's very important, all right?"

"I understand." Ianto knew Jack's usual take-charge attitude, could imagine the difficulties he was having in delegating this task to someone else. "I'll take care of him."

"I know you will." He could hear the smile back in Jack's voice. "Let him have the Chinese, he'll need it. He's had a rough trip."

"He rather looks it." Ianto glanced over at that Jack again. "That all, sir?"

"Yes..." Jack stopped short. "No. I remember. That's not the only visitor you'll be getting tonight."

"Should I be setting out the welcome mat?"

"There'll be others showing up in the Hub tonight, but it's all right. You don't have to do anything--in fact it's vitally important that you don't." His voice was tight. "Ianto. I know this is a hell of a time to be asking, but do you trust me?"

He glanced over at the other Jack, sitting patiently. "Sir?"

"You were trained at Torchwood One. You know the rules and guidelines. Can you ignore it all and do as I say?"

Ianto hesitated for a long moment. He didn't want to think about the last time he had ignored Torchwood rules. He knew he was the last person who had any right to ask the question, but he had to, if only because he couldn't face putting anyone in that sort of danger again. "Is it safe?"

"It will be." He heard the relief in Jack's voice. "Just--don't do anything. Help him, and don't get involved in anything else. Will you do that?"

"If you're sure."

"Good. Go ahead and bring him down. I'll be hiding out by the time you get here." Jack paused a moment. "Ianto? Thank you."

That was twice he'd said it. "No problem, sir." He clicked the earpiece off and looked at his newest responsibility. "He says it's all right to come down. Can you make it?"

That Jack stood up. "Sure. Just some displacement sickness, that's all it was. Should wear off soon." He was already looking considerably better.

Ianto touched the hidden switch, and the wall slid aside. Jack followed him through and they started down the hall toward the lift.

"He says this is your future, but that's all I can tell you. I'm sure you understand."

Jack glanced at him with what looked like amusement. "You're handling this pretty calmly." He took another look, a more thorough one this time. "And the scenery's not bad either. What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't." Ianto wondered if that bit of information would compromise the timeline. "It's Ianto Jones."

"Ianto Jones. I'll look forward to having you around."

***********************************

The man in the RAF uniform held still for a few more moments, and then flashed her a brilliant smile. "I'd absolutely love to be your Jack. Exactly what would that entail? Are there benefits?"

Rose rolled her eyes and stood up. "Not the kind you're looking for." She peered around the corner again. "Thanks, by the way." She thought about that. "You don't know me, right? Why'd you rescue me?"

He stood up as well. "I know this part of history very well. Where the bombs hit. Who was killed. Nobody was supposed to die in that blast; I couldn't let you mess up the timeline. And there's the non-contemporaneous technology."

"The what?"

"Your cell phone." He grinned down at her. "I knew you weren't from around here."

She shivered, whether at the reminder of her phone or from the cold that she was just noticing, she didn't know. "No, but without my phone I might be stuck here for a while."

He raised an eyebrow. "You don't have any other means of communication with your team?"

"My--oh." She remembered what Jack had thought when they first met. "I'm not a Time Agent." At least she'd thought that was when they first met. Oh, God, she was probably screwing up the timeline seriously now.

She couldn't tell by his expression whether he believed her or not. "Then how did you get here?"

"I was with--" she stopped abruptly, shaking her head. "I can't tell you. But it was an accident. I wasn't supposed to be here." She stopped again, blinking back tears and shivering again. "They don't know where I am."

He took off his greatcoat and wrapped it around her shoulders. "You know my name."

She snuggled into the coat thankfully, and looked up at him tentatively. "Yes."

"But I don't know yours."

She smiled. "I don't know if I should tell you. You haven't met me yet."

An indefinable tension melted from him, a tension that she hadn't even noticed until then. "You're from my future?"

She remembered then, about Jack's missing memories. Of course. He'd have no way of knowing whether he'd already met her or not. She realized, in a way that she hadn't before, exactly what those missing years had done to him, how it would have crippled his entire outlook.

"Yeah." She looked around. "Hope I didn't just mess everything up by telling you that."

He was smiling again. "We'll make sure it turns out all right," he promised. "I think it's safe to tell me your name. Just don't tell me anything else."

She nodded. "Rose."

"Rose. Well, since you aren't supposed to be here, we'll just have to find a way to get you back. First things first, though, let's get you out of here before someone spots you."

She giggled. "Is this the part where you offer to show me your invisible spaceship?"

"This isn't fair. You know all my lines." Then he sobered. "It'll take me a few minutes to configure it to bring you on board. I'll have to leave you down here by yourself."

"Just leave me the coat, I'll be fine." She looked around. "Is it safe to stay here?"

He glanced at his wrist computer and nodded. "The all-clear won't sound for a while yet, so nobody should be around, and the bombing has moved on a bit. Just don't wander off."

"I've heard that one before," she muttered.

He pulled the teleport control from his pocket and winked at her. "See you in a bit."

As he disappeared, she leaned against the wall. The adrenaline rush from nearly being bombed was ebbing away, leaving only the after-effects from whatever had transported her here. She hoped Jack would hurry. She still wasn't sure if allowing him to help her was the wisest thing to do, but it wasn't as if she had a choice. There wouldn't be any help from anyone else in this era.

 _Could always hang around until the Doctor shows up again,_ she thought. _Get him to take me back to where I'm supposed to be._ After all, at the beginning of that trip she had been separated from him for a while. How did she know that wasn't what had happened?

Then she thought of what had occurred right before they came to London in the 1940's, and shuddered. The debacle with her father would still be fresh in the Doctor's mind. If she suddenly appeared with a wild tale of having crossed her own timeline again, he'd take her straight back home and leave her, no questions asked.

No. It was good to know that she had an out if she needed it, but she'd save that option for absolute last.

*****************************************

Ianto had to hand it to this Jack. If he was impressed by the Hub, he wasn't showing it. Not outright, anyway. Ianto recognized his impassive expression; he was cataloguing everything he saw, storing it away for future reference, while trying to look as if he weren't noticing anything at all.

He went straight for the rift manipulator. "This looks like--what is this?"

"There's a rift in Cardiff," Ianto explained. "A sort of tear, in the space-time continuum, a gap where the boundaries are much looser than they ought to be." He nodded at the machine. "This machine--it's supposed to help control it. In a very small and limited way."

Jack--he couldn't help but think of him as Jack, even if it wasn't the Jack he knew--stared at him. "Cardiff? As in Wales? Earth?" Then he shook his head. "Never mind." He looked back at the controls. "May I?"

Ianto nodded, and Jack started pulling up information on the screen. Ianto retreated into the boardroom and started setting the food out on the table, turning that "Earth" remark over in his mind. Jack joined him after a few minutes. "You're right about the--hey, that looks good."

"Help yourself." Ianto sat down with his own food and tucked his napkin into his shirt.

Jack sat down and peered at the boxes. "All my favorites." He grinned at Ianto. "I hope your boss appreciates you."

Ianto merely raised an eyebrow. He knew a leading statement when he saw one, and he wasn't about to respond.

"Anyway, you're right about the controls. I can see where it's monitoring the rift, and the rift is definitely strong enough to pull someone away from one place, or time, and dump them out somewhere else. But the controls aren't anywhere powerful enough, or precise enough, to get me back where I'm supposed to be." He tapped his wrist computer. "What I think I can do is send a signal from here, and modify the manipulator to broadcast the signal through time."

"To whom?"

For the first time, Ianto saw this Jack thrown off-balance. "You don't know?"

Ianto shrugged. "You've never mentioned using the manipulator to send a signal before."

Jack frowned. "With any luck, I won't need to do this again. I am definitely holding out for a superphone when I get back." He sighed. "Sorry, Ianto. If you don't already know, there's probably a reason." He looked up suddenly. "Your boss, he won't mind me rewiring the machine?"

Ianto shook his head. "He said to let you do whatever you wanted."

"Hmm. I hope that means I'm on the right track." Jack gave him that wide smile again, and Ianto couldn't help the small quirk of his lips in response.

*************************************

Rose had evidently sat down while waiting for him; as he teleported her aboard and the wall she'd been leaning against disappeared, she nearly fell over.

He moved quickly to steady her. "It's okay, I've got you."

She smiled, allowing him to pull her to her feet. He kept hold of her hands, studying her. She was pale, and still trembling. "You don't look so good."

She pulled away and shrugged out of his coat. "Thanks a lot."

"I just meant--if you got here by accident, you probably weren't shielded properly. Time-shifting without the right sort of protection can be real trouble if you're not careful."

Rose was giggling again. "I bet you always use protection."

That earned her a double-take, before he flashed her a smile. "Of course I do. I'm very experienced, after all." He opened a compartment in the side wall and pulled out a can. "Here, drink this. The nutrients in it will help."

Rose pulled the ring cautiously. The top popped off and the liquid inside started to steam. It smelled a little like cinnamon.

"Give it a moment to heat up, it'll taste better that way." Jack sat down in his captain's chair and waved at her to have a seat on the bunk. "You were unconscious down there for a good five or ten minutes. The bombs and the running got you jump-started, but as soon as you finish that you'll probably want to rest."

She sipped the drink. "How did you find me? Just happened to be passing through?"

He shook his head. "You set off one of my alarms when you arrived. The ship detected a time disturbance and notified me. It took me a few minutes to get back up here, track your location, and transport back to the surface. By the time I got there you were just starting to stir. You're lucky you didn't land ten minutes later."

She smiled at him. "I get lucky a lot." Then she held up a hand against his smirk. "Don't even say it." She looked around his ship again, assessing it. "This ship, it can travel in time, right?"

"It can now, yes," he answered. "I've made some modifications to it."

"Could you take me back to where I was?"

"That depends. Where were you? And when?"

Her face fell. "Sometime in the 47th century. On--" she stopped. She didn't want to give him an exact location, that was obvious. "It was--in the Niobe system."

Jack turned to his computer and searched for the Niobe system. "We could probably narrow the time frame down a little..." He stopped and frowned at the screen, before swiveling back to her.

"What?" She looked anxiously at him.

He hated to say it, but she had to know. "That system is a long ways off. It'd take fourteen months of your time for this ship to get there."

"Fourteen months?" Her face was suddenly pale again, her eyes huge as they searched his, looking for reassurance.

Jack moved swiftly from his chair and sat down on the bunk beside her, taking the empty can from her and setting it down. "It's all right," he said softly. "You got here somehow. We'll find a way to get you back, I promise."

"I have to get back soon," she said numbly. "Otherwise--" She shivered.

He put a comforting arm around her. "You should get some rest. We'll figure out something in the morning, when you're recovered."

She nodded, and he stood up as she took off her shoes and slid further back in the bunk. Then she leaned out to look at him again. "Where are you sleeping?"

He grinned at her, removing his uniform shirt and shoes. "Bunk's big enough for two."

He hadn't actually been serious. Figuring that she'd flatly refuse, he was surprised when she only rolled her eyes at him. "Should have expected that, really." She moved over obligingly, leaving room for him.

Well, he wasn't about to turn down what amounted to an invitation, even if it was only an invitation to share a sleeping space. He touched a switch and the interior lights went off, leaving only the blinking lights on the instrument panels and the soft glow of the computer screen. Then he lay down beside her.

It fit what else he'd seen of her, he mused, watching the instrument lights blink. She'd come on board his ship without a backwards glance. He'd given her a drink and she'd accepted it without question. She trusted him, that was clear. Beyond any boundaries of common sense, really.

So...however they'd met, whoever she really was, he hadn't been conning her, then. She wouldn't be nearly as trusting if he had.

Or maybe he just hadn't conned her yet.

He was surprised at how disheartened he felt at that thought. He tried to think about something else. No matter when he would meet her or what he was going to be doing, it would be better for everyone concerned if he knew as little about it as possible.

She sighed, and it brought his mind back to immediate reality.

"I wish..." her voice trailed off.

He turned on his side, facing her. "You wish what?" Her face was very close, and he fought a sudden desire to reach out to her, to stroke her hair back out of her eyes, to kiss her...

She looked down. "Nothing. Never mind."

But he'd seen the loneliness in her eyes. "You wish I was your Jack?" he guessed.

Her eyes flickered up to meet his, and back down again. "Well...yeah. Sorry."

"If I was your Jack, what would I do to make you feel better?" For once, he didn't try to sound suggestive.

There was silence for a moment before she replied. "Talk to me."

"The future me has no imagination." He grinned at her, and she tried to smile back, but it wasn't convincing. He sobered. "I'm sorry. That's the one thing I really can't do. Shouldn't do."

"I know." She was quiet again, and he sensed her hesitation.

"Anything else?" She didn't answer, and he decided to take a chance. "Well, I know what I'd do, if it was me. Which, you know." He put an arm around her tentatively, giving her plenty of time to pull away. Instead she snuggled into his hold, and he knew he'd done the right thing.

A thought struck him, and he let go long enough to pull the remote control from his pocket. "Would some music help you fall asleep?"

She thought for a moment. "Do you have any Glenn Miller?"

"Glenn? Sure, he's pretty much required for this time period." He thumbed the control and adjusted the volume downwards, so that the soft sounds mixed with the ship's hum. It was very soothing, he had to admit.

"That's perfect." He could hear the smile in her voice as he put his arm around her again. "Good night, Jack."

"Good night, Rose."

He was almost asleep when she stiffened in his arms, looking wide-eyed at him. "Jack?"

She must have had a nightmare, forgotten momentarily, wakened to find herself somewhere unfamiliar. "It's all right," he soothed.

"You know where I am." She was still staring at him.

"I know where you are. You're right here with me." He gave in to the impulse to smooth her cheek with his fingertips. "Everything's okay. You can go back to sleep."

She nodded and relaxed against him as her eyes drifted shut again.

******************************************

"Get it off, Ianto!" Jack was pulling at one sleeve of Ianto's jacket, catching it as he slipped out of it. Ianto's fingers fumbled as he loosened his tie and yanked it over his head.

Jack was laughing as he smothered the fire with the discarded clothing, simultaneously extinguishing the sparks on the console and the ones on the jacket. "Sorry about that. I'll owe you a new suit. Catch up with me later." He winked at Ianto, who stifled a sigh as he dropped the still-smouldering tie. Apparently some things about Jack hadn't changed at all.

Some things had, though. The Jack he knew was--well, not reserved, exactly. He'd talk endlessly, but he never said anything of substance about himself. He was very good at finding out whatever he wanted to know without revealing anything in return.

This Jack, though...he talked just as much, but he didn't seem to be holding anything back, censoring himself, as the other one so often did. Ianto was learning more about his supervisor in the few hours this Jack had been there than in a year of working with him. Places he'd been to, adventures he'd had, people he'd slept with. Ianto had long suspected that Jack had more experience with aliens than he'd revealed to his team, but he'd never realized exactly how much Jack had been concealing.

He wondered what had changed in the intervening time that made Jack feel the need for secrecy.

"You don't seem to be too upset about being stranded here," he stated, finally voicing what he'd been thinking since they walked inside the Hub. Jack was never prone to panic, but he seemed much more confident than Ianto would have been in his place.

Jack appeared to be writing a new program for the manipulator. "I think everything will work out."

"Why?" It had been Ianto's experience that things rarely worked out the way you expected them to. He wanted to know how Jack could maintain that boundless optimism.

Jack glanced up at him, as if deciding how much to tell him. "It's complicated." Ianto waited. Jack took a deep breath. "I think I've already seen what happens. A friend was caught in the time storm with me. If this is when I think it is, then I know what happened to her, and I know I was there when we found her. If we've managed to stick to the timeline, I know I'll get back, because I have to be there to pick her up."

Ianto shook his head. "You're right, that is complicated."

Jack stepped back. "All right, I think that'll do it." He tapped out a final sequence on the keyboard and squinted at the screen. "I've sent out the strongest signal I can manage. The rift ought to scatter it out to a pretty wide time range. If I've done it right, the--my friend will notice it and track me here."

"So now we wait?" Ianto asked, noting how Jack was careful not to mention his friend's name.

"We wait," Jack agreed. "Shouldn't be long, though."

Ianto didn't ask how he knew that. He'd mentioned time travel; evidently this friend had that capability as well.

"You'll need to put the machine back the way it was," Jack was saying. "Really not a good idea to keep something around that's capable of broadcasting signals all through time. No telling what kind of paradoxes you'd produce."

Ianto nodded. "I remember most of what you did. I'll get Jack--the other Jack--to help me with the rest of it." He looked at his watch. It was later than he'd realized. "Would you like some coffee while we're waiting?"

Jack grinned appreciatively. "I do like your hospitality, Mr. Jones."

*************************************

Rose rolled out of the bunk still mostly asleep. Jack was already awake and dressed, sitting in his captain's chair. He turned as he heard her moving around. "Good morning. Sleep well?"

"Like a log."

"Logs don't kick, and you most definitely do."

She made a face at him. "You probably deserved it."

He only grinned in return, not denying it, watching with interest as she stretched, trying to work the kinks out, although there wasn't much more room standing up than there'd been in the bunk.

She looked around. "You got a ladies' in here?"

He pointed to a panel that was indistinguishable from the others on the wall. "Through there. It's probably not what you're used to, though."

Like the rest of the ship, it was tiny, but it served the necessary purposes, and Rose stepped out a few minutes later feeling a little more human. "I borrowed your hairbrush."

"On a first date? I feel so used. You didn't touch my toothbrush, did you?"

"What's a little genetic transfer between friends?"

His voice dropped half an octave. "Honey, if it's genetic transfers you're looking for, I can think of half a dozen better ways of accomplishing them."

"Only half a dozen? You're slipping, Captain." Rose found her shoes and sat on the edge of the bunk to slide them on, thinking about what she'd realized the previous night. "Now, if you've got that out of your system, I think I know what we need to do."

************************************

They were on their second cup of coffee and Jack was well into his most outrageous story yet when a grinding noise filled the air and wind whipped up around the Hub, blowing papers off desks.

Jack jumped up, the coffee forgotten. "That sounds like my ride."

Ianto watched, stunned, as a blue box materialized beside the steel column. His hand went to his gun again, automatically, before he remembered what his Jack had told him. He wasn't to interfere. But he recognized that box, he knew who was inside, he knew the directives concerning that particular alien.

He saw Jack take off down the stairs towards the box, grinning, and he realized exactly why his Jack had been so adamant that he do nothing. This Jack was travelling with the Doctor, and his Jack wanted to keep it that way.

Several other things fell into place in his mind then, as the door of the blue box opened and a young man with floppy brown hair peered out, taking in the Hub with one comprehensive glance. "Right place..."

Jack stopped short. "Who are you?"

"...wrong time," the young man finished. He stepped out and closed the door carefully behind him.

Ianto knew that face, recognized it from the bits of CCTV footage that had survived the destruction of Canary Wharf. Why did Jack seem to be expecting someone else?

The Doctor was scrutinizing Jack, who was glaring at him, fists clenched. "Very much wrong time, I'd say. You don't belong here, not right now."

"Yeah, I'd noticed that," Jack retorted. "Where's the Doctor?"

The Doctor smiled. He looked like a different person suddenly; Ianto hadn't seen that expression on the videos. "It's all right, Jack. Your Doctor will be along shortly." He glanced around with interest. "This wasn't exactly when I meant to land. Noticed your signal and got side-tracked. I remember, now."

He looked back at Jack, his grin growing wider. "You never told me about this. Good job. Keep it that way, right?"

Ianto was starting to put the pieces together. Torchwood had information about all the Doctor's different faces—except one. Ianto was willing to bet that that was the one Jack was looking for. He was also starting to wonder who exactly was responsible for the virus that had wiped out all the data on that face, along with any references to that Doctor's travelling companions. Who included, apparently, one Jack Harkness.

Whatever Jack had done later, once he arrived at Torchwood, it was clear that this Jack didn't know that the Doctor regularly changed his appearance. Ianto wasn't about to explain, though. His Jack had told him not to interfere, in any way. That would definitely count as interference.

All that flashed through his head in a matter of seconds, and then the Doctor was looking at him, still with that huge smile that lit up his whole face. "Hullo, Ianto. Nice to see you again."

He couldn't think of anything to say in response. He nodded automatically as Jack stared at him. The Doctor glanced around. "Sorry about this. I'd better get on to when I'm supposed to be."

He turned towards the blue box again, and all thoughts of non-interference left Ianto entirely. "Wait," he blurted.

The Doctor turned back, raising an inquiring eyebrow.

Ianto nodded at Jack. "He doesn't belong in this timeline, you were right about that. But what about the Jack who does?"

The Doctor's expression closed down, went remote. "What about him?"

Ianto took a step closer to him without even realizing it. "Don't you owe him some sort of explanation?"

The Doctor glanced at Jack. "Ianto." He shook his head warningly. "Don't."

Ianto was past caring. "Don't you even want to see him?"

The Doctor glared at him. "I can't. Not yet." He took a deep breath. "I don't expect you to understand."

He looked at Jack, still standing there in puzzlement, and his expression softened as he took a step towards him. "Jack. I didn't forget you. I will come back, I promise you that."

"You're saying it to the wrong one!"

The Doctor stepped back. "But he'll remember." He turned to the blue box again. "At least I hope he will."

He slipped inside and the blue box disappeared even as they watched.

Jack turned to Ianto, eyes flashing. "What the hell was all that about? Who was that? He knew you."

The anger was wearing off, and Ianto was realizing exactly how much trouble he might have caused. He shook his head, hoping it looked convincing. "Never saw him before." That at least was true.

Jack looked far from satisfied, so Ianto was rather relieved when the grinding noise resounded through the Hub again. The blue box appeared in the exact spot it had just vacated.

Neither of them moved until the door opened. This time it was a short-haired man in a leather jacket. He spotted Jack and stepped outside, grinning. "Jack, fantastic!"

"Doctor!" Jack took a step towards him, and then stopped, frowning. "There was just--"

Ianto elbowed him and shook his head minutely as Jack turned to look at him. He thought for a moment that Jack was going to ignore him, but then Jack turned back and said only, "I'm glad you found me."

"Picked up your signal finally. Took me a bit, but that's all right." The Doctor was peering around. "Rose isn't with you?"

Jack shook his head. "No, but I think I know where she is."

That got the Doctor's attention. "Yeah? Well, that's good. She all right?"

Jack seemed to be fighting back a smile. "She's fine." He indicated Ianto. "This is Ianto Jones. He works here." He paused. "I didn't actually ask where 'here' is. Didn't want to get into any time paradoxes. Anyway, Ianto's been helping me."

The Doctor nodded at him. "Nice to meet you, Ianto Jones. Hope Jack here hasn't been too much of an inconvenience."

Well, that cleared up the question of how the other Doctor had known him. "No, sir, not at all."

The Doctor took one more look around and clapped Jack on the back. "Come on, Captain, let's go get Rose."

Jack turned to Ianto. "Thanks, Ianto. Guess I'll see you later." He smiled broadly. "I'll be looking forward to it."

Ianto understood with sudden clarity why his Jack hadn't wanted to even speak to his past self. The temptation to try to change things was overwhelming. He wanted to confess everything now, ask this Jack to watch out, to not let things get screwed up so badly when they met again. But he couldn't. He could only nod back at Jack. "Yes, sir."

He stepped back and watched as the blue box disappeared for the second time. When everything was quiet once more, he pressed the button on his earpiece. "They're gone."

It was a moment before Jack responded. He sounded tired. "All right. I'm coming up."

Ianto went back to the boardroom and poured two fresh cups of coffee. Jack joined him and accepted the offered cup, nodding at him in thanks.

"I'm afraid we ate all the Chinese. I'll get some more if you like."

Jack shook his head. "I'm not really hungry."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, sipping their coffee. Finally Jack put down his cup. "I'm surprised. I thought you'd have lots of questions."

Ianto thought about it. "Not really, sir. I think I'm pretty well caught up."

Jack grinned, although the tired look hadn't left his eyes. "As far as I can remember, you did really well. You didn't give anything away."

"I was afraid I had. At the end."

"I did figure out finally who the first guy was. He said he hadn't forgotten me, he'd be back. And he did come. Well, the other one, anyway."

"That's not what he was talking about. He said you'd remember."

Jack looked down, staring at his coffee. "I remember what he said. But it was a long time ago. I don't know any more what he meant."

"I believed him."

"It was a long time ago," Jack repeated. He looked up at Ianto, his eyes hard. "A very long time."

Ianto refused to be intimidated, holding his gaze. "For me it's been about ten minutes. He meant it. He will come back."

Jack took a deep breath. "I really don't want to talk about this."

"Yes, sir." Ianto finished his coffee and stood up. "I've got to fix the rift manipulator."

"Leave it." Jack was back to staring at the table. "Go home and get some sleep. I'll take care of it."

"All right." Ianto picked up his cup and started to leave.

Jack put out a hand and caught his arm. "Ianto. Thank you."

He allowed himself a small smile. "That's three times today. I'll have to write that down." He paused, looking at Jack's hand on his shirtsleeve. "By the way, sir, I believe you owe me a new suit."

******************************************

Jack closed the door behind him as the Doctor bounded up the ramp to the console. Jack looked around and sighed with relief. He'd been fairly sure that everything would work out, but it was nice to have it confirmed.

The Doctor set the TARDIS in motion and waved him over. "All right, where's Rose?"

"Can't be sure, but I think she's back in 1941."

The Doctor, flipping switches and adjusting levers, looked over his shoulder. "When and where exactly? And just how do you know this?"

Jack grinned. "Well, there's something I never told you. When I caught Rose hanging off that barrage balloon? That wasn't the first time I'd met her..."

*****************************************

"You've figured out how to contact your friends?" Jack asked.

Rose stood up. "Not so much, no. I think they'll contact me."

"I thought they didn't know when you are."

She smiled at him. "But they will."

"I don't suppose you're going to explain that." He sighed. "All right, what's the plan?"

She shook her head. "Nothing complicated. Can you find me a nice deserted spot down there? Somewhere where nobody will be around for the next few hours, where it'll be safe to wait?"

He looked as if he were going to say something, but then just nodded and set to work at his computer.

Soon he turned back to her. "All right, I've got it."

"Good. Can you transport me down there?"

He shook his head. "Not alone. I'm going with you."

Her mouth fell open in dismay. "Jack, you can't!"

"You can't go down there by yourself," he said stubbornly. "It's not safe."

She put her hands on her hips. "I can take care of myself!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, I saw that when you nearly got bombed trying to go back and get a cell phone."

She tried not to think about what she'd be doing when he ran into her again. "You said this place will be deserted."

"Supposed to be deserted," he corrected. "Things don't always work out the way they're supposed to. I'll go along to keep an eye on you, make sure your friends show up."

She crossed her arms. "Jack, you can't. I mean--you really can't."

"I'll stay out of the way," he promised. "I won't interfere with anything. But I'm not letting you go by yourself."

That sounded enough like her Jack that she gave up. "Fine, then. Let's go."

He grinned and stood up, taking the control from his pocket. "Ready?"

She glanced around the ship, making sure she hadn't left any tell-tale traces of herself behind. "Ready."

True to his word, he landed them behind a bombed-out school. Parts of it had been boarded up; parts had been left open to the elements. Barbed wire surrounded most of it.

"Nobody should be here for a while," he explained. "Different people shelter here sometimes--homeless people, runaways--but there was a clean-out raid yesterday, so it'll be another few days before anybody comes back."

He looked around. "So what now?"

"Now we wait."

He shoved his hands in his pockets. "That's your big plan? We wait?"

"I told you you didn't have to come. Nothing exciting here."

She should have known better than to give him a cue like that. That wolfish grin came out immediately. "If we're going to be here for a while, we'll just have to make our own excitement."

"Thanks for the invitation, but if I'm right, we won't have to wait very long."

***********************************************

Jack was giving the Doctor an abbreviated version of his first meeting with Rose, from his point of view.

The Doctor's eyebrows were rising alarmingly as he set the TARDIS to follow Jack's directions. "And you never thought to mention any of this to me? To warn me?"

"If I'd told you, you'd never have taken us anywhere near the Niobe system. I didn't know when or exactly where it would happen, but I did know that it would end up all right, as long as we didn't change anything."

The time rotor stilled suddenly, and he glanced up. "I think we're here."

*********************************************

Rose looked up as an odd noise echoed through the air. "That's them!"

She pulled him around a corner of the building that was still standing. "You stay here." She peered round the corner as the noise grew louder, then looked back at him. "You thought I was a Time Agent at first."

"Only for a minute or so." Until he'd realized, almost immediately, that she was far too young, too innocent.

"Well, go with that when you meet me again." She looked back around the corner. "I have to go." She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for everything, Jack. See you soon." Before he could react, she was off and running.

Knowing he shouldn't, he nevertheless leaned against the wall and looked around the corner cautiously. A blue box with a flashing light on top had appeared in the yard.

As he watched, one of the doors opened and a man stepped out. Rose flew into his arms and he hugged her enthusiastically. He let her go as another man, this one wearing a black leather jacket, approached, grinning widely, and Rose hugged him as well. Then the three of them went back into the box (must be fairly cramped in there, some part of his mind noted absently) and the box disappeared.

He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, thinking about the first man he'd seen. The future had suddenly become a lot more interesting.

****************************************

"You found me!" Rose turned from the Doctor to latch onto Jack again. "I knew you would. I knew you'd remember where I was, and come and get me!"

Then she thought of something else, and her face changed instantly, to mock-pouting. "And you never said. You rescued me from that balloon, and danced with me on your spaceship, and you never said, 'Oh, by the way, met you already, gave you a drink and slept with you.'"

Jack glanced at the Doctor, whose eyebrows were nearly at his hairline. "'Slept with you' in the purely technical sense, if you don't mind the clarification." He grinned at her. "But I did remember you liked Glenn Miller."

"I liked it because it reminded me of you." She frowned. "But if you played it when we danced because you knew I liked it, and I liked it because you played it--"

"Don't think about it too hard," he warned. "You'll unravel the fabric of the universe or something." He poked her in the shoulder, his own eyebrows raising. "And don't talk to me about what I didn't mention. I notice that you never once said, 'Oh, by the way, do us all a favor and don't unleash gas-mask zombies on the world, okay?'"

"I didn't want to change anything," she defended herself. "But we got lucky. It all worked out all right in the end, anyway."

He sobered somewhat. "I have to admit that there were times when I thought it wouldn't."

*********************************

It had all seemed to be going so well. He'd spotted Rose hanging from a barrage balloon--good grief, did the girl never learn?--and brought her onto his ship, managing not to give anything away.

He didn't like the idea of pretending to con her, but it was the only thing he knew to do. She'd said he was supposed to think she was a Time Agent, so he danced with her and flirted with her and was starting to think that he probably shouldn't have given her so much champagne, when she mentioned her friend. It gave him a welcome excuse to break away from her. Her first impression of him wasn't going to be all that great, anyway; he really didn't want to add "got me drunk and seduced me" to her list of his offences.

But it wasn't until they were trapped in the hospital with people who should have been dead surrounding them that he really started to worry. The Doctor was angrily insistent that this was somehow his fault and he was just as angrily insistent that it wasn't. It couldn't be. The Rose who'd met him previously wouldn't have let this happen, not without warning him so he could change it. She'd wanted the timeline to stay exactly as it was; this couldn't be what she'd meant. Something had gone wrong.

Still he held on stubbornly to what he'd seen when Rose left--that somehow this would work out, that there'd be a future for him that didn't involve spending the rest of his life one jump away from another memory-wipe, a long-term one this time.

They were standing by the ambulance, watching the army of faceless people lurching towards them, when he finally accepted what had happened. Something had gone wrong somewhere, he'd done something wrong, or hadn't done something right, and the timeline had changed. He couldn't do anything about the zombies, had to trust that the Doctor would think of something, but he could handle the bomb. It wouldn't matter what happened to him, not now.

He gave in to the temptation to say goodbye to Rose once more, to see her look at him in admiration, thinking of him as a hero. Then he ordered himself a drink and waited, talking nonsense to try to drown out his own thoughts. He wondered who would meet Rose now when the blue box came for her, in his past, her future. He wondered what else might have changed. Maybe she wouldn't be swept back to 1941 at all. He hoped that whatever he'd done, he hadn't messed up her timeline too badly. He remembered dancing with her on top of his ship, and smiled.

It took him a few moments to realize that the music he was hearing wasn't in his imagination.

********************************

"We were lucky," he agreed. But those were old memories, thoughts that belonged in the past, and he couldn't leave it at that. He crossed his arms and smirked at her. "Stick with me, sweetheart, I'll make sure you get lucky any time you want."

She punched him in the arm. "By the way, where'd you get off to? Did you get caught in the--whatever it was?"

"Time storm," he answered. "Yeah." He thought about how to answer that. The Doctor was listening as well, and Jack was starting to remember what little he knew about Time Lords, and getting an inkling of who the first man might have been. He shook his head. "It was in the future. My future. I really didn't ask too many questions. Dangerous to find out too much." He turned to the Doctor. "So, how about those pikanes?"

The Doctor finished setting coordinates and came down the ramp. "You know, I've gone right off pikanes. What about sushi?"

"Yuck," Rose objected. "I don't eat raw fish."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You've eaten alien food with eyeballs still in, I don't see the problem. I know this great place over in the 32nd century, we'll be there in a minute." He threw an arm around each of their shoulders and steered them towards the jump seat. "Meanwhile, you can tell me all about how you slept with Jack before we even met him. Start from the beginning and go on to the end, omitting no detail, however slight..."


End file.
